Bethesda’s latest open-world epic is well on its way toward consuming the lives of gamers worldwide, to the tune of 3.5 million copies sold. The company announced today that it has shipped 7 million units of Skyrim globally, and expects to gross more than $450 million in launch sales. It’s a massive debut, topping out several other contenders in the RPG genre by a significant margin.

“We are grateful for the fans’ response to Skyrim,” said ZeniMax Media CEO Robert Altman. “Todd Howard and his team at Bethesda Game Studios have crafted a very special game. Anticipation for Skyrim has surpassed any game in our company’s history, and we are pleased that sales and reviews have reflected the quality and hours of amazing gameplay it provides.”

While a breakdown of sales per platform was not provided, Bethesda pointed attention to the surge in popularity on Steam, with the title having set a record of more than 280,000 concurrent players earlier this week. Long-tail sales should be steady as well, given the bustling mod scene that Elder Scrolls games have always attracted.

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